3D printing technology has already become one of the most concerned emerging technologies in the world at present. The novel production mode, together with other digitizing production modes, will work together to trigger the third industrial revolution. One of the bottlenecks restricting rapid development of 3D printing technology is printing materials, particularly metal printing materials. Research and development and production of metal materials which are better in performance and higher in universality are the key to enhancing 3D printing technology. In view of the fact that a high performance metal implement can be directly manufactured by means of 3D printing technology, various metal powders which are small in grain size, uniform in grain size, high in their degree of sphericity and low in oxygen content are required. At present, to procure high-end metal powder, China mainly relies on imports. Nevertheless, manufacturers abroad usually set raw materials and equipment at a high price, which greatly restricts the development of metal 3D printing technology in China.
Preparation methods for the metal powder mainly comprise an atomization method, a rotation electrode method etc. The metal powder prepared by means of the atomization method has the characteristics of having a high degree of sphericity, homogeneous component, low oxygen content and the like and is widely applied. The average grain size of the metal powder, which is limited, prepared by the atomization method is 10-50 microns, and the fine powder yield is low. At present, the submicron order metal powder cannot be prepared by means of the atomization method. Generally, the smaller the grain size of the metal powder, the higher the melting speed. The printing speed and precision can be improved. When the grain size of the metal powder reaches the submicron order (the particle diameter is 100 nm to 1.0 um), the dispersibility of the metal powder becomes poor, so that the metal powder is hardly conveyed. Therefore, the application of the submicron order metal powder in 3D printing manufacturing is limited. The question of how to obtain the metal powder suitable for 3D printing manufacturing is one of the critical problems in 3D printing technology.